CEATEC NEWS: Sharp goes back to the future with Blu-ray/VHS combi recorder

Sharp Three in One

And if that means combining the current cutting edge with legacy formats, so be it: the company is showing a brand new combination Blu-ray Disc/hard disk/VHS recorder, due in Japanese shops soon.

The BD-HDV22 combi recorder joins the slimline BD-HD22 in the new line-up, and shares with that machine Blu-ray Disc recording from broadcast, a 250GB hard drive and the ability to archive a stack of DVD discs onto a single Blu-ray Disc blank via the hard drive.

But the addition of a VHS deck - a hi-fi VHS deck, no less - shows that Sharp's aware some of its customers still have extensive tape libraries, and haven't yet made the jump to DVD recording.

With the new Sharp machine they can simply skip a generation, and go straight from tape to Blu-ray.